


a really great deal on craigslist

by dearhappy



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - New Girl Fusion, Families of Choice, Multi, Mutual Pining, obligatory: and they were roommates!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26636611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearhappy/pseuds/dearhappy
Summary: Julie’s sitting across from three guys she met less than ten minutes ago and realizes that maybe she should’ve looked more into the Craigslist posting. Or you know, not answer an ad from complete strangers on the internet. And she definitely shouldn’t have shown up alone to meet the strangers at the apartment, even though they turned out to be very cute strangers.Overall this was probably a bad idea, but desperate times and all that.(or the new girl au)
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 133
Kudos: 698





	1. who's that girl?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I'm currently obsessed with Julie & the Phantoms and this is the result of it.
> 
> I just thought an au based on new girl would be a neat concept and then I couldn't stop thinking about it until I managed to actually write this out. So enjoy this new girl au. Also, for clarification Julie and Flynn are both in college and are 20 while the boys are all roughly 23-ish because I felt that worked best for this story. 
> 
> EDIT: I've decided to change the title from "i've had the time of my life" to "a really great deal on craigslist" which is in reference to a line from New Girl. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Julie is starting to have a lot of regrets. 

She’s sitting across from three guys that she met less than ten minutes ago and realizes that perhaps she should’ve looked more into the Craigslist posting. Maybe asked more questions when she emailed. Or you know, not answer an ad from complete strangers on the internet. 

And she definitely shouldn’t have shown up alone to meet the strangers at the apartment, even though they turned out to be very _cute_ strangers. 

She can practically hear her tìa screaming at the mere thought of her even doing this. But at least she’s sharing her location with Flynn and agreed to check in, so if Flynn doesn’t hear back from her in an hour she’s going to send help (which probably means she’s going to call Julie’s dad and the two of them are going to show up here). 

Overall this was probably a bad idea, but desperate times and all that.

“I’m going to be honest,” she starts, when the silence feels like it’s gone on for far too long. “When I read your ad, I kinda thought this apartment was girls looking for a roommate.”

The guys laugh. And the one who’d answered the door, and introduced himself as Luke, asks, “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know, I guess the words used,” she shrugs, looking between them, and notices that the two on either side look at the blond in the middle. “Like sun-soaked and beige-y. Guess that’s on me for assuming.”

“Alex wrote the ad,” Luke says.

“Well, sorry, for wanting our ad to sound nice!” Alex says, throwing his hands up in exasperation, “I thought using nice, descriptive words like that would give us non-sketchy applicants. Besides it’s _way_ better than what you wanted it to say.”

Julie watches Luke roll his eyes and Alex elbow him. “How’s that working for you?” 

“Not great,” the third guy answers immediately, “All sketchy. Obviously excluding you. At least so far.”

“Reggie,” Alex whispers, shaking his head slightly, as if in warning. 

Julie sighs, looking around the room, taking in the eclectic decor and the sight of instruments all set up and surrounded by amps, before landing on the piano. She remembers the ad had included _must enjoy music_ and a mention of the three roommates being in a band.

“Whose piano is that?”

All three of them look towards it as if checking that it's there. “Oh, yeah, that was here when we moved in and we decided to just keep it since it was still in good shape,” Luke says, “Doesn’t get much use these days. Do you play?”

She pauses for a brief moment, considers being honest, eventually settles with, “No. No, I don’t.” It’s only a slight lie, she doesn’t anymore. “Um, my mom played. Hers is just like that one.” 

Julie looks at their curious stares, clears her throat and asks before any of them can respond, “Why do you guys need a new roommate? What happened to the last one?”

“Oh, well, Bobby-”

“We’re the ones interviewing you,” Luke says pointedly, cutting off Reggie and sending him an equally sharp look. “In case you forgot. So, why do you need a new place?”

Julie glances at them before narrowing her eyes at Luke. “I asked you first,” she responds.

Luke reels back slightly, pausing for a moment as he looks at her. “Fine,” he says slowly, “Uh. We just realized we could use the help with rent ever since our old roommate decided it was time to move on and all that.”

“And that he dumped Luke,” Reggie adds in a stage whisper. 

Luke’s eyes widen as he sends him an alarmed look. He shakes his head and scoffs, “”Dumped’. Bobby didn’t dump me, it was mutual. Okay? Fine, maybe he dumped me. But I’m over it, it was six months ago. Get past it, guys! Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks, looking more like a kicked puppy with each word. “I’m fine. God, stop talking about it so much.”

 _“Okay,_ touchy subject,” Julie says, nodding, and making a mental note to avoid mentioning it again. 

“Yeah. It really is,” Alex mutters, his hand squeezing Luke’s shoulder reassuringly. “So, why do you need a place?”

She reaches up to readjust her baseball cap even though it definitely doesn’t need any, she just needs the moment to think. She knows she doesn’t need to explain everything to them but she’s worried about any possible questions that they might have.

“Well, I’m transferring schools. But I live on campus right now, so obviously I need a new place, since I can’t exactly stay if I don’t attend the school anymore,” she explains, forcing a smile and trying to make it sound not that serious. “I mean, I would move back home but that’s…” She shakes her head, “My dad already worries too much about me.”

“Wouldn’t moving in with strangers make him worry _more?”_ Reggie asks.

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” she answers, shrugging. “But I figured he’s going to worry about me either way. At least this way he isn’t hovering over my every move.”

Reggie nods, humming in consideration. “That makes sense.”

“That’s… Okay. So, you’re in college?” Alex asks, he’s got a clipboard in front of him and scribbles something down. 

Julie frowns, feeling like she’s back in a therapy session before shaking that thought away. “Yeah, I’m in my junior year. And I work at a record shop.”

“Oh! Could you get us a discount?” Reggie asks. 

“I mean, yeah?” Julie offers, frowning slightly as she watches his eager expression turn into one of delight. She turns to the others and asks if she can look around. 

They lead her on a quick tour that includes being shown the room that they’re offering up, pointing out which doors lead to each of their rooms, the bathroom, and the makeshift recording booth that looks like it used to be a large walk-in closet.

“Can I be honest?” she asks, once they’re in the kitchen. “I really need a place and this… Is surprisingly the only decent place I’ve been to all day. Everything else is too expensive, or in awful shape.”

She watches them exchange looks, except Alex, who leans forward against the counter and says, “I still have questions actually. I mean, no offense, but we don’t even know you. And you don’t know us.”

“That's fair," she says, "What do you want to know?”

“Uh, well,” Alex starts, scratching his neck and glancing at the others as if for help, but neither seem to offer up any. He sighs, tilting his head in thought. 

“Excuse us, I need to talk to the boys,” Luke says to her with a smile. He shoots them a look and nods his head towards a doorway that leads towards where most of the bedrooms are.

Immediately Alex follows. Reggie stays behind, smiling brightly at Julie and opens his mouth clearly about to start a conversation, when Alex comes back and grabs his arm before dragging him away. 

Julie watches them until they disappear from her sight. Once she's left alone, she can't help but feel awkward as she looks around, eventually deciding to walk around to get a look without any of the guys watching over her shoulder.

  
  


* * *

The band meeting happens in the bathroom, they stand around in a semi-circle, and Luke announces, “I think we should let her live here.” 

“Yes!” Reggie exclaims. When they both look at him, he continues, bouncing slightly as he does, “She’s a girl, she’ll have friends who are girls, who’ll probably come over. Maybe even invite them to our gigs? So, yes.”

Alex shakes his head, looking pointedly away from Reggie. “I wish you were moving out.”

Reggie pouts at that even though Alex definitely doesn’t mean it. Luke knows Alex loves them and wouldn’t want to see either of them leave, especially not after the whole thing with Bobby. 

“We need to think about this logically,” Alex decides, “This is a big change and we don’t even know her. Let’s look at the pros and cons before deciding.” 

“Pro: she seems nice,” Reggie says, holding up his pointer finger. 

“Pro: she’s the _only_ applicant that’s normal. Like, seriously, those others were complete weirdos,” Alex replies, shuddering slightly at the thought of their other roommate interviews. 

“Isn’t that a bit harsh to those guys?” Luke counters. “The bird guy seemed chill.”

“Pro,” Reggie says, interrupting whatever was going to be Alex’s response. _“Girls.”_

“Con: girls,” Luke says, earning a betrayed look from Reggie. “Listen, she moves in and invades our space,” he gestures around them, “With all her _girl stuff.”_

“Oh,” Reggie nods in understanding, “Like butterflies and glitter?”

At that Alex shoots them both judging looks, and says, “What is-” He shakes his head, briefly running a hand over his face. “Okay, pro: she said her mom’s into music, so she’ll be understanding when we practice.”

Luke points at him and nods. “Okay, yeah. That’s a really good point in her favor. Con: we really don’t know her,” he continues, “I mean, right now, she seems cool. But what if she ends up being a terrible roommate?”

“Or worse,” Alex says, eyes widening, scratching his neck slightly. “Aw, man. I didn’t think about that. We shouldn’t have put an ad on the internet. What if she turns out to be an axe murderer?”

“Dude, c’mon, does she really seem like a murderer to you?”

“Nah.” Reggie shakes his head. “Seems too nice to be a murderer.”

“That’s how they get you! They lure you into a false sense of security and then...” At this Alex makes a noise as he uses his finger to make a slash across his neck. 

“Then draw a line across your neck?” Reggie asks, frowning in confusion. “That makes no sense.”

“What? No! Murder us!” Alex exclaims, shaking his head and folding his arms over his chest. “You know what, I… I don’t think we should do this anymore.” 

“Do you need a hug?” Reggie asks, moving towards Alex to comfort him during his impending spiral. 

“No, don’t touch me,” Alex says, stepping away from them. Reggie huffs and shakes his head, muttering about how this is why they don’t hug him more often. And Alex begins pacing around the bathroom. 

“Look what you did!” Reggie tells Luke, gesturing towards Alex pacing and pulling his hood up to cover his head.

“Yeah, sorry, this spiral is on me. That’s my bad,” Luke says, apologetically. “But... We need a new roommate and like you said she’s the only normal one. So, executive decision! She’s in.”

“Wait, really?” they hear Julie ask, making them all turn towards the closed door behind them.

Luke walks over to open the door and is greeted by the sight of Julie clearly trying to act like she hadn’t been listening despite being caught already. She’s feeling the wall right across from the bathroom, nodding to herself, and says, “Wow. This... This is a nice wall. Very sturdy.” 

She turns towards them, smiling innocently. “So, have you decided yet?” 

“You’re in,” Luke says. 

“Right. Thanks,” she says, nodding again. “Thanks, you won’t regret this,” she adds, letting go of the wall and giving them awkward finger guns before shaking her head as if she’s clearly judging herself. 

And Luke has to admit it’s a cute sight. He smiles at her, says, “You can move in whenever you want.” 

  
  


* * *

She packs up her entire room that same day with the help of Flynn, who keeps insisting that since they’ll no longer be on the same campus their friendship will fall apart. And Julie has to keep insisting that their years-long friendship will take much more than that to end. It doesn't completely ease Flynn’s worries, but it does make her smile a bit, and actually start packing things instead of slowly unpacking as if this isn’t happening.

Julie supposes that it helps that the loft isn’t actually that far away, which means it’s easy for both of them to visit each other whenever they want.

The next day, the two of them get ready to move everything into the loft.

“Julie, hey,” Luke says, coming out of the building. “I saw you out here. You need help?”

“Sure,” Julie says, gesturing to the back of her car that’s filled with all of her things. She glances towards Flynn who’s staring at her pointedly, nodding towards Luke. “Flynn, this is Luke. One of my new roommates. Luke, this is Flynn.”

“Her best friend in the entire world,” Flynn introduces with a smile that doesn't falter as she continues, “And if you let anything happen to her, I will come here and crazy murder you all. Got it?”

Julie smothers a laugh as she watches Luke's expression shift between alarm and confusion on how serious she is.

“Noted. Completely,” Luke says, nodding his head quickly. “Uh. Nice to meet you.” And then gets right to work with grabbing a box.

As soon as he’s disappeared into the building, Flynn turns towards her with a smug smile and raises her brow. 

“What?” Julie asks slowly, already dreading whatever Flynn is going to say. 

Flynn shrugs in an obviously not casual way. “Oh, nothing,” she says in a tone that means it’s definitely something. “Just that you didn’t tell me your new roommate was super cute. No wonder you chose this place.”

“Oh my God,” Julie says, rolling her eyes, but finds herself smiling as she looks past Flynn, making sure Luke isn’t coming back yet. “I did not choose this place because of that.”

“Mhm,” Flynn hums, clearly not buying it, she grabs one of the boxes. 

Julie grins, “But he really is cute, right?” 

Flynn laughs and nods, but before she can say anything else, Luke is coming back out and grabbing some more things to take to the elevator. It’s not long before Alex and Reggie come out to help too, and Flynn gives her a pointed look that means she’s going to be hearing more about keeping the cute roommates a secret.

* * *

  
  


After a morning meeting with her advisor about finalizing her transfer, she comes back to the loft to find the boys having a band rehearsal. She stops in her tracks, she knew they were in a band but finally seeing the proof of them in action is different. She watches them for a moment and realizes that they’re good. They’re _really_ good. 

She can't help but nod along to the beat as she looks over each of the boys with their bright smiles, none of them have noticed that she’s there yet. And she aches at how happy they look playing music together, it makes her miss her mom _and_ music. She aches to be able to play that freely again.

She shakes herself out of the moment and heads for her room, leaning against the closed door as she listens to them play and hears their happy laughter, making her remember all the times she’d played songs with her mom.

And it hits her that they have a similar sound to the kinds of bands her mom used to like, makes her think that she would've liked them. At that thought, she shuts her eyes tight as tears threaten to spill over.

Her minor emotional breakdown gets interrupted by her phone going off reminding her that she needs to get ready to head to work. 

“Julie, hi!” Reggie greets when she walks into the living room, “I didn’t know you were home.”

She looks at them all sitting on the couch, clearly taking a break. “Yeah, I saw you guys playing,” she explains, pointedly not looking in the direction of their instruments. “Didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Oh, by the way,” Luke says, reaching across the coffee table to grab a piece of folded up paper and walking over. He holds it out. “Uh, I found this on the floor. It must’ve fallen out when we were moving your stuff in.”

“Thanks,” Julie frowns, grabbing the paper hesitantly.

“Your mom’s an amazing songwriter,” he says.

“She is,” she says automatically then freezes, eyes wide as she looks at him, “Wait, what? How do you know that?”

Luke frowns now, pointing at the paper in her hand. “That… It’s a song. An amazing song and if your mom wrote it, she’s insanely talented.”

Julie looks down, unfolding the paper even though she knows what it is now, taking in the familiar handwriting. She knows the note on the last page, that gave Luke the information on who wrote it, by heart.

“Was,” she says, looking away from the sheet music, she notices the moment realization dawns in his expression. “She passed away.”

“I am so sorry.”

“We didn’t know,” Alex adds, from his spot on the couch, looking apologetic. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“It’s okay,” Julie says, carefully folding up the paper before putting it in her pocket. She takes a deep breath and decides to change the subject before the emotions boil over. “Uh, you guys are pretty good.”

Luke’s expression changes quickly from sad to something close to offended. “Just pretty good?” he asks, tone edging on incredulously, making her laugh slightly. 

“Yep,” she answers, backing away towards the door. Grinning at Luke spluttering out an offended reply to her not thinking they’re epic. “I gotta get to work.”

Before she leaves out the door, she hears Reggie call out, “We’re Sunset Curve. Tell your friends!”

  
  


* * *

The loft is empty when she comes back again, she calls out for the guys just in case, but there’s no answer.

She’s grabbing something to drink when she finds herself directly facing the piano. She remembers Alex had explained that while none of them really play it much, they make sure it’s kept in good shape.

As she’s staring at the piano, she thinks about her mom’s song still folded up in her pocket and pulls it out.

She can’t really explain why now, but maybe it has to do with the fact that she’s moved in with a bunch of musicians and really misses her mom. Whatever the reason, she makes her way to the piano and spreads out the sheet music in front of her. 

And she plays for the first time in a year, let's herself get carried away in the words her mom wrote for her.

Afterwards she can’t help but cry as she sits at a piano that’s not her mom’s but looks so much like it and holds the last page close to her. Thinking over the lyrics and realizes it’s a sign somehow. 

Her phone rings while she’s wiping her tears, she wastes no time answering it when she sees that it’s Flynn, and listens as she begins talking about how her first day of classes without Julie there went. 

“Hey, Flynn,” Julie says, when there’s a pause, “I… I just played.”

There’s a drawn out silence as if Flynn is in shock, before asking, “Wait? You played?”

“Yeah, I played this song my mom wrote for me,” Julie explains, slowly running a hand over the piano again. “I’ve been so scared to play it. But I don’t know, today I realized maybe that’s exactly why I should.”

“Jules! This is amazing!” Flynn exclaims, she can practically hear the smile in her voice. “Wait. Oh my god. We need to let Harrison know that you can still play. Maybe it’s not too late to get back in!”

Julie checks the time and realizes that right now Mrs. Harrison should be teaching the night class that she has today, if she hurries she can still make it in time to catch her. She grins, and nods, “Meet me outside of her class.”

“Yes! Hurry up, I’ll try to stall her if you’re not here in time,” Flynn tells her. 

She immediately gets up, determined to make it in time, practically running into the guys in her rush out the door. They stare at her with wide eyes, she imagines she looks a bit on the crazy side as she grins at them. “Oh, hey,” she greets them, “I can’t talk right now. I need to get back into my music program!”

With that she rushes to the elevator, hearing a chorus of “good luck”s coming from the guys as the doors close.

  
  


* * *

It turns out that it doesn’t matter that she can play now because Julie's transfer has already been finalized that afternoon and there’s nothing that Mrs. Harrison can do for her even though she’s glad that Julie’s able to play again. All that can be done is reapplying next semester.

Flynn and Julie eat two cartons of ice cream on the floor of Flynn’s room. And Julie calls her dad since Flynn had excitedly texted him the news. He’d been ecstatic to find out that she’s got music back, it sucks to break the news to him that she's still transferring out.

  
  


* * *

“Hey, Julie,” Reggie greets when she gets back to the loft that night. He and Alex are on the couch, eating pizza and watching what looks like some reality tv show. 

“Hey,” she says back, starting to walk towards her room, not feeling up to talking at the moment.

Before she can get there though, Alex calls out, “Julie, wait. Did you get back into your music program?”

For a moment, she wonders how he knew about that before remembering she told them when she was rushing out of the apartment. “Uh, no,” she says.

“I’m sorry, that sucks,” Alex says, frowning, “We heard you playing earlier and you were amazing.”

“Wait, you heard that?”

“We didn’t mean to, we came back and found you playing, and well, yeah,” Reggie quickly explains, “Ended up listening. And may I say, you have the voice of an angel.”

“Thanks,” Julie smiles, suddenly feeling less embarrassed by them hearing her play, none of them speak for a moment. And she nods, taking the chance to go to her room. 

In the middle of the night when she gets up to grab some water, she finds Luke in the kitchen eating what she assumes is the leftover pizza.

He wastes no time telling her that the guys told him she didn’t get back in, but she shouldn’t be wasting her talent and that she needs to prove to her teachers that she belongs there by _making_ them listen. He tells her that Sunset Curve gets all their gigs by doing, not asking and she needs to do the same.

Although his weird pep talk includes a lot more violent metaphors about how she’s a wrecking ball, but it’s nice, even though she has to explain that they won’t just let her back in.

“If getting back into this school is what you want then you need to go for it,” Luke says, “You’re too talented not to try.”

And Julie looks at his earnest expression and realizes that he’s right, she needs to try. It’s not like she has anything to lose if this backfires. “I don’t even have anything prepared,” she says with a sigh.

Luke grins at her. “Thought you might say that and I got just the thing,” he says, reaching into his pocket and taking out a piece of notebook paper. He smooths it out onto the counter and shows her the song that he thinks is perfect for her. 

* * *

The next day, she calls Flynn and tells her the plan and Flynn tells her that the showcase is the perfect time to do it. Then, promises that she'll be over later to go with her.

When Flynn comes into the apartment, she immediately turns to send a glare at the boys. “Seriously, you guys have been in her life for four days and convinced her to perform to get her spot back?” she asks, “That’s not your job. That is _my_ job.”

She stares them down as they all awkwardly apologize, Julie can’t help but laugh at the whole thing. Flynn nods, clearly pleased, “You should be sorry. But,” she starts, grinning at them, “Thank you so much! This'll be great, Double Trouble lives on!”

“Didn't agree to that name," Julie says, and Flynn ignores that as she throws an arm over Julie's shoulders. "I'm really doing this."

“You sure are! We should leave now, if we want to make it,” Flynn says, proudly smiling at her and guiding her towards the door.

“Stick it to the man!” Luke calls out from the couch, at the same time that Reggie says, “You can do this!”

Julie stops at the door and turns towards them. “Aren’t you guys going to come with?”

They don’t hesitate to get off the couch and follow them out. With Flynn claiming shotgun, leaving the guys to all pile into the backseat as Julie drives. 

Alex offers up his pre-show mix to help with the nerves and get Julie in the right headspace. The playlist so far has included a weird mix of bubblegum pop and rock music, mostly from the 90’s. It’s strange but she has to admit, it kind of works. 

Until she gets to school and keeps driving instead of pulling into the parking lot. 

“You know, it’s fine,” Flynn says, nodding along as she gives her an encouraging smile. “You need a minute, we can just drive around the block.”

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Julie asks, “I mean, crashing the showcase seems like an awful idea.”

“It’s going to be fine,” Flynn insists. “It’s not like they can expel you.”

Julie nods, focusing ahead as she grips the steering wheel and continues to drive. She drives around three more times, going on a fourth, when she frowns at the familiar song playing now. Bill Medley's voice low over the speakers singing, _now I've had the time of my life..._

She glances into the rearview mirror to look at Alex. "Seriously this is on your pre-show mix?" she asks.

“Yeah,” Alex answers, sounding sheepish, she can hear the others laugh. “You can just skip it,” he adds, already leaning forward to do so.

Julie holds out her arm to stop him. “Wait, don’t,” she says, listening to the lyrics coming through the speakers. “Actually. I think this is working," she nods, muttering along to the words, and for some reason it does help make her feel pumped up. 

"What is happening?" Flynn asks.

"What's happening is that this is an amazing song," Alex says, matter-of-factly.

This time she finally turns into the parking lot and the car fills with everyone's excited shouts. Once parked they get out of the car, rushing towards the auditorium. 

Julie’s bravery quickly shatters when she makes it inside and sees Dirty Candy performing onstage. The nerves are coming back in full force as she watches their performance, feeling like maybe she can’t do this.

“Now’s your chance,” Flynn says, giving her a nudge once Dirty Candy leaves the stage and Dean Lessa is giving a closing speech.

But Julie hesitates, taking only one step towards the stage before stopping. Everyone is starting to leave the auditorium.

“You got this,” Luke says encouragingly, when she still hasn’t taken the stage. “The piano is right there with your name on it.”

Julie looks back towards Luke and the others, to find all four of them smiling encouragingly and she thinks about the song she’s practiced all night just for this moment. 

She faces the stage, takes a deep breath before walking up the steps and slowly making her way to the piano. She sits down, hands hesitating for a moment while watching the mulling crowd before finally starting to play. There must be someone still in the lighting booth because quickly the lights go down until just a spotlight is on her. She notices people moving back to their seats or standing in the aisles while she sings.

And she keeps performing, only nearly messes up when she hears other instruments begin to join her and turns to see the guys on stage with her. Luke nodding at her to continue. 

And it feels _right,_ the four of them performing onstage together, as if this is exactly where they belong.

The exhilaration from the performance morphs quickly into nerves when Dean Lessa makes a loud announcement after they're done thanking everyone for sticking around and that now the showcase is really over. Mrs. Harrison walks towards Julie causing the guys to quickly retreat to where Flynn is standing in the wings. 

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Harrison,” Julie says before she can say anything, “I just thought if you saw me perform that you’d see that I do belong here.”

Mrs. Harrison smiles, “You do, and I’m proud of you for performing again, but I’m sorry, Julie. Your spot has been filled, there’s nothing I can do.”

Julie nods in understanding, but still feels the disappointment begin to sink in. 

“I can do something,” Dean Lessa says, walking over to them. “I don’t appreciate this display,” she continues, causing the feeling to deepen, “However, I refuse to be known as the dean that kicked Julie Molina out of a performing arts school. We’ll need to work out the details, but consider yourself a student here again.”

Julie can’t help the bright grin that spreads across her face. “Thank you, thank you so much,” she says, sharing an excited look with Mrs. Harrison. 

“Just don’t pull another stunt like this again,” Dean Lessa warns in a serious tone, before smiling, “Welcome back.”

“So, what happened?” Flynn asks, walking over to her once Lessa has disappeared from earshot and Mrs. Harrison follows after congratulating her. Flynn and the boys are all looking at her eagerly. “Are you back in?” 

“I’m in!” Julie says, letting herself be pulled into several hugs and enjoying the excited chatter surrounding her.

“Wait,” Reggie says, eyes wide as he looks around the group, “Does this mean you’re moving out?”

Julie blinks, she hadn’t even considered that as an option yet, but hearing it makes her realize that she probably needs to think it over. Except when she looks at the boys, she can’t imagine just leaving when she’s barely had a chance to settle in. 

“You’re trying to get rid of me already?” she jokes, it seems to be answer enough as their concerned looks turn into bright smiles.

“We should celebrate!” Luke says. 

“Yes, drinks are on me, guys,” Reggie announces, “Let’s do this!”

“Luke never makes us pay for drinks,” Alex points out.

“Fine,” Reggie says, sounding annoyed, “Drinks are on Luke.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


As promised drinks are on Luke because they go to the bar that he works at. He does however refuse to serve alcohol to Flynn and Julie much to their annoyance. But it’s fine, Julie feels like she’s on top of the world and nothing can ruin her mood.

While she and Flynn are excitedly talking about everything, she notices Luke behind the bar waving her over to where he and the guys are.

“Hey,” she says, when she joins them, she frowns at their expressions. She isn’t sure what to make of the hopefulness on their faces. “What’s going on?”

“So, we’ve talked it over,” Luke grins at her. “And we want to invite you to join the band.” At that they do jazz hands in excitement as they smile at her.

“You want me to join your band?” she asks, unsure if she’s actually hearing him correctly. “Seriously?”

“We do not joke about the matters of the band,” Reggie says, completely serious, and he looks expectantly at her.

“Julie, that performance we did together was incredible,” Luke says, “We’d be crazy not to make this a permanent thing.”

“Yeah,” Alex agrees from his spot beside Reggie, “It was like we found the missing piece. As crazy as that sounds.”

Julie is taken back by their sounds of agreement, she looks over to Flynn beside her, to see that she’s looking thoughtfully at the four of them. “They’re right,” Flynn says, “I mean, that performance was like nothing I’ve ever seen. You guys are amazing together.”

“So,” Luke urges, looking hopeful. “Are you joining our band?”

This time Flynn scoffs, “I think you’re joining her band,” she announces, smiling at Julie when she agrees to that. 

“You know what would be a great way to celebrate this?” Reggie asks, turning to look at Luke with an innocent smile. “If you called Bobby and got us into the party tomorrow?”

“Nope,” Luke says, cleaning a glass, “I’m not calling him. If you want you can call him.”

Julie sees Flynn’s questioning expression and shakes her head to tell her not to even bother asking, but a silent promise to explain later.

Reggie spends most of the night attempting to convince him in between them brainstorming new band names and joking around, while Luke rotates between joining them and doing his job when other customers need him.

And it's nice, this small group that they've become. 

“Jules, don’t look now, but a cute guy is totally checking you out,” Flynn says, she nods in the direction the guy must be in.

“Which guy?” Reggie asks immediately and loudly, as he looks around the bar.

“Very subtle,” Alex says sarcastically, shaking his head as Julie glares at Reggie. “I’m sorry about him.”

Julie shakes her head, but follows where Flynn is indicating, she has to admit he is cute. “You should talk to him,” Flynn encourages with a smile. 

It takes Alex admitting that they know him and a lot of encouraging words before she even makes her way over to him. Somehow, maybe due to the newfound confidence and happiness from the day’s events, she manages not to make a complete fool of herself in front of the cute guy and ends up with a date.

  
  


* * *

Julie goes home to tell her dad about the news. She finds him hunched over piles of paper, smiling sheepishly when he explains that they’re information about different music schools or ones with good music programs.

“Well, good news. You don't need to keep searching,” she says, unable to control her smile, “I got back in.”

It takes her dad a moment to register what she said but soon enough she’s wrapped in a hug and getting a kiss on her cheek. “I’m so proud of you,” he says, sighing in relief, “Are you going to need help moving back into the dorms?”

“Um,” she starts, she’s been dreading bringing this up, especially since he was trying to convince her to move back home when she first told him. “I think I might stay in the loft with the guys.”

Her dad leans back and looks at her with a frown. “Are you sure?” he asks, “You know you can always stay here for however long you need.”

“I know,” she replies softly. “And I know that I barely know them and stranger danger is a real thing, but they’re good dudes. And very normal," she insists, before reconsidering, "Well, Reggie... He's questionable. But they’re kind of the reason I was even able to get back in.”

He looks at her for a long moment. “These boys must be something special to bring music back into your life,” he says, smiling and points at her, “I still want to meet them.”

“Of course,” Julie says, laughing.

“If anything ever happens, anything at all, you know I’m always here for you,” he adds, “No matter what.” He holds out his hand with his finger pointed out and smiles at her, waits for her to do the same before curling his finger around hers. “I’m so happy that you’re playing music again.”

Julie wraps her arms around her dad, hugging him tightly, the happy feeling she felt since the performance still blooming in her chest. She whispers, “Me too.”

  
  


* * *

Julie’s date is in an hour and she still hasn’t decided what to wear. She debates calling Flynn but she doesn’t actually know where her phone is because she’s thrown her clothes all over the floor. Instead, she lays in the pile, staring at her ceiling and deciding that she’s not going out tonight.

“Hey, Julie, we’re- Woah,” Reggie says. Julie looks over to where he's standing in her doorway. “What’s going on? Are you doing clothes angels?”

She sighs, “No. I just… I don’t have anything to wear.”

“Um, clearly you have tons to wear,” he replies, gesturing to the clothes strewn across the floor. He raises his hands in surrender when she glares at him. “Not what you meant.”

“I think I’m just going to cancel,” Julie tells him, turning away to stare back at her ceiling. He doesn’t say anything but she hears him walk into the room and watches him out of the corner of her eye as he joins her on the floor.

She turns to look at him but he just stares up at the ceiling, eventually he says, “This is surprisingly comfortable.”

"What are you doing?" she asks, eyeing him suspiciously, he folds his arms under his head and gives her a smile.

"Joining you in the clothes pile."

She huffs, shaking her head. "Why though?"

"Why not?" Reggie counters, shrugging awkwardly in his position. He's facing her now and asks, "Why're you cancelling your date?"

Julie frowns as she looks at him, he's laying in the opposite direction but his face is in her view and there's a large amount of space between them. She notices that he's looking at her expectantly waiting for her answer, a small smile on his face. She looks up and takes a deep breathe, "I don't exactly have a lot of... Dating experience," she admits quietly. 

She expects him to judge, or make fun of her, but instead he's looking at her with a thoughtful frown, and says, "So, you're scared?"

"Well, yeah," she answers, "It's stupid. I just... What if I don't know what to say? Or it goes horribly?"

Reggie hums, nodding along, then says, "Yeah. I mean, that's always the risk with these things. So much could go wrong or make it awkward."

"Not helpful," she points out, grabbing the scarf by her face and throwing it at him. He laughs, smacking it away before it hits him.

"Hey, if you're worried about it, you two could always skip dinner and just join us at the party," Reggie says, when his laughter dies down. "Less pressure that way."

"The party?"

"Yep," Reggie says, grinning at her. "Apparently all my convincing worked and Luke texted Bobby to get us in."

"Huh," Julie says, frowning slightly, remembering the way Luke talked about Bobby that first day they met and how much he kept refusing Reggie's pleas the night before. "You must've really wore him down."

"Definitely."

After a moment of silence, Reggie says, "You know, it's okay to be nervous. But you never know how it'll go until you're actually there. And if it goes horribly? Who cares? You don't have to go on another date with him." He sits up and looks down at her. "If it goes _really_ badly you can always call me and I'll bail you out. I know _tons_ of ways to escape places."

"You'd do that?" she asks, not doing a good job at hiding her surprised. 

"Duh. That's what friends are for," he states, tone conveying how he thinks it should be obvious, "Well, friends-slash-roommates-slash-bandmates."

She laughs, shaking her head and finally sitting up, she tilts her head as she thinks over everything Reggie's said. "You're full of surprises, Reg," she says.

"I get that a lot," he says, nodding before frowning, "Wait, in a good way?"

"The best way," she agrees, earning a smile from him. "Thanks."

"No problem," he looks around the mess of clothes, "So, I'll leave you to get ready. Unless you need help with picking something out?"

"Nah, I think I got it from here," she says, nodding as she starts picking up things off the floor. She smiles when Reggie gives her a small salute before getting up and leaving, not before saying he'll be in the living room if she changes her mind.

It feels easier to actually decide on what to wear now that Reggie eased some of her worries.

When she's ready and has finally found her phone, she makes her way out into the living room. Reggie looks up from where he's playing something on his bass and grins, "Wow," causing Luke to look up from where he's scribbling in the notebook he uses for songs and Alex looks up from his laptop where he's likely getting work done. 

"You look nice, Julie," Alex says.

"Thanks guys," she says, noticing that Luke hasn't said anything, she turns to see him looking at her. She doesn't know what to make of his expression except that he's smiling at her.

When he notices that she's looking at him, he says, "You, uh, you look good."

"Thanks," she repeats, smiling back, before taking out her phone. "I'm gonna text him. Let him know I'm on my way."

"Wait. Have you been texting him this whole time?" Luke asks, a slight frown on his face.

Julie looks up at him and then towards the others. "Is that... bad?"

"No. No, it's nice," he replies, shaking his head, and smiles again. "Have a good night."

"Yeah, you got this," Reggie offers.

She laughs, nodding, "It's gonna be great," she says, earning a thumbs up from Reggie with each hand. "Have fun at your party, guys."

* * *

Julie feels like an idiot. 

And she’s pretty sure the waitstaff and the people at the tables nearby all feel sorry for her. She imagines that they’ll be gossiping to others for the next few days about how sad and pathetic she is.

It’s embarrassing and even though she's still here, she’s already accepted that Brad isn’t going to show up at all. Right now, she’s debating whether to just eat a meal by herself and endure some more of the waitress’ pity smiles, or finally give up the table. 

Before she can tell that to the waitress, she hears a commotion from the entrance and familiar voices shouting, “Wait! We're here! We’re here! Julie!”

She sees Luke rushing towards her table, with Reggie and Alex following closely behind him, they look slightly out of breath and ruffled. “Julie, we’re sorry,” Luke says, “We’re here for the date thing!”

They stop at the table and smile brightly at her. The waitress looks at them warily, “You’re her dates?”

“Yup. That’s us. We’re, uh, we're her boyfriends,” Luke tells the woman with complete confidence even though she clearly doesn’t buy it. Reggie automatically reaches his hand out to rest on the one Julie has on the table as if that's proof enough. "One man just isn't enough for her."

“All three of you?”

“Yeah, you got a problem with that?” Alex asks, crossing his arms and looking at her with judgement. “These are sensitive times. We can all be in a relationship, it’s a thing. Get woke.”

The waitress still clearly doesn’t buy it. But almost as if she doesn’t want to get a complaint, or maybe she just decides she doesn’t want to deal with this, she smiles politely and gestures to the table before walking away. 

“Hey,” Luke says, “We ran into Brad. And you know, forget that guy, he was a real jerk. You deserve way better than that.”

And Julie doesn’t know what to do with all the emotions building up in her chest. She looks at each of them and asks, “You guys ditched your party to come here and see me?"

"Of course!"

"Why?" she can't help but ask, the build up of emotions feeling like they'll spill out any second now.

"We care about you," Luke says, leaning against the back of the chair, "We like you."

Alex eagerly nods in agreement. "Yeah, and you're way more important to us than some lame party."

"Well..." Reggie makes a face, "The party was supposed to be epic so- Ow!" He says as Luke elbows him in the gut and sends him a look that makes him backtrack quickly, "But that aside, we do care more about you than that party! I told you we'd be here for you, that's what friends-slash-roommates-slash-bandmates do."

Julie lets out a watery laugh as she looks at them, feeling the tears starting to sting as she nods, "That's so nice. I care about you guys too."

"Hey, no, don't cry," Luke says quickly, "Julie, c'mon, you'll make Alex cry and I can't deal with two of you crying."

"Too late," Reggie announces, tears streaming down his cheeks.

She watches Alex start crying then too and that's what causes the tears to spill over for her. 

"Hey, hey, stop crying guys," Luke says, but Julie can hear the way his voice shakes as if he's barely holding back tears. He clears his throat, and starts singing, _"Rise through the night you and I, We will fight to shine together, bright forever."_

Reggie and Alex join in, singing through their tears. And she knows that Luke is trying to make her stop crying by singing the song from their first performance together, but it doesn't stop the tears at all. It does make her smile through them though. She joins in when they just restart singing the chorus again and she becomes aware that everyone is staring at them. 

She thinks that they must make quite a sight, four people crying while singing in the middle of the restaurant, but she doesn't care. She doesn't even care that they haven't even known each other for a full week yet because she's convinced even more that this is where she belongs. With these three guys who have brought music back into her life and have dropped everything to show up when they realized she'd been stood up.

"Excuse me," the waitress interrupts, "I'm going to have to ask you all to leave."

"We were leaving anyway," Luke tells her, before turning back to Julie and nodding towards the exit, "C'mon, let's go home."

And as they walk out of the restaurant towards her car together, already making plans to pick up burgers on the way and debating what movie they should watch, she thinks, _home._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mainly referenced/inspired by the new girl episodes: 1.01: The Pilot, 1.02: Kryptonite
> 
> much more loose on the inspiration from the kryptonite episode


	2. the wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for all the kudos and the lovely comments!
> 
> Several of you asked if I'd write more of this au and I said idk we'll see, even though I already had a bunch of snippets written out. But I didn't want to change the completion status until I had at least a chapter to add, and therefore positive I was going to continue this. So, here we go, it's officially a chaptered fic.
> 
> Please enjoy!

They're workshopping a song together before Luke has to start his shift at the bar. In the middle of tossing out ideas, Reggie decides to make something to eat, still offering up his suggestions as he does. She thinks they're finally nailing the beat when out of nowhere they’re interrupted by a loud clatter coming from the kitchen, she turns immediately and finds Reggie standing there with wide eyes as he stares at his phone.

"You okay?" Julie asks, watching Reggie duck down to grab the serving spoon that he dropped. He throws it at the sink, not seeming to care that it hits the wall and falls onto the counter instead.

"Hm? Yeah, fine," he says, glancing at his phone and towards where they're sitting. "Hey, Alex, can I talk to you? In your room?" He nods towards his door, already backing towards it. He urgently adds, "Now."

Alex frowns, clearly confused, but gets up from behind his drums. And Luke asks, "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing!" Reggie says, forcing a smile, "Definitely not about how Bobby just texted me that he's going to the wedding."

"Dude," Alex says, abruptly turning around to face Luke. 

Julie follows his gaze to find Luke focusing on tuning his guitar. He doesn't seem affected unlike the other times Bobby was mentioned. The only sign of any kind of distress is the way his brows furrow and the slight downturn of his mouth that could be read as concentration. 

She can't help the worry building up. Over the past few weeks one of the things she's learned was that the breakup has been hard on Luke. But she hasn't learned any details, not that she's ever asked, she remembers that first time she learned about Bobby and hasn't brought it up since. And Reggie and Alex don't talk about Bobby that much, she assumes it's because they worry about how Luke will react.

The only things she actually knows about Bobby are that he went to the same college as Reggie, he was in the band, and was their previous roommate. He's the one responsible for the weird space themed art on her closet's wall (apparently it's a meditation thing? At least that's what Reggie says). And the obvious fact that he broke Luke's heart.

Sometimes though, she forgets that Luke had gone through a rough breakup. He seems so carefree and unbothered most of the time. But then things like this happen, Bobby gets mentioned and Luke shuts down, or he gets weirdly defensive in a way that edges towards revealing how clearly hard it's been on him.

(Not to mention the lyrics that she's read in his journal that show an entire range of heartbroken feelings. He never goes into details, or explain the meaning, although he does confirm her suspicions about them being about Bobby before asking to move on. There'd been a few he deemed okay to work with.

But there's one specific song about someone named Emily that he hadn't even wanted her to read. He tried to play it off as just an experiment in writing, except it'd been obvious how much more desperate to move on, looked so much sadder at the mention of it.

The point is, from what she can tell, talking about feelings doesn't seem to be his thing.)

"So?" Luke shrugs, continuing to fiddle with his guitar. "Not surprising. He's friends with them too."

Reggie hums nodding as he looks down at his phone. He glances at Alex with a certain look, taking a deep breath. "Well, he's..." he starts, but mutters the rest unintelligibly. 

She frowns. And Luke asks, "What?"

"Okay, don't freak out," Reggie says, tone placating. He doesn't continue until Luke tells him to just spit it out. And even then, he hesitates for a moment, glancing at Alex again, who only shrugs. Finally, he says, "He's... Taking a date."

Julie doesn't know what kind of reaction to expect and she's startled by the sound of an ear splitting screech from Luke's guitar. She sees him quickly places his palm flat against the strings in an attempt to stop the sound. Alex sighs, and Reggie mumbles a weak, "Ow, my ears."

"Cool," Luke says, voice dull and blank, forcing a smile as he slips off the end table he'd been sitting on. "Good for him, I don't care." He takes his guitar off, putting it on it's stand, not even bothering to unplug it from the amp before walking towards the door. "I've gotta go to work."

"Luke," Julie calls out, already out of her seat, feeling the urge to comfort him.

"I'm fine," Luke says.

It's not at all convincing but he gives her an almost pleading look that makes her freeze in her spot. She watches as he leaves the apartment quickly, staring at the door when it shuts behind him. 

Reggie coughs awkwardly, breaking the silence they're left in, "Well, that... Didn't go well."

"Oh, you think?" Alex asks sarcastically, giving him one of those looks when he's clearly judging and exasperated with him. She's seen that look directed towards Reggie and Luke a lot since moving in.

"Should one of us go after him?"

Reggie and Alex look at each other, as if silenting communicating, it reminds her that the two of them have known each other for years. After a moment, Alex tells her, "Uh, he gets... Weird about Bobby. We just need to give him some space."

Julie nods, looking down at the piano and sighing, there's no way that they're finishing the song tonight. She grabs her phone and walks towards the kitchen, sitting on one of the stools, and watches Reggie move to the stove to finish making spaghetti.

"You know," Reggie starts, "He'll be fine after some alone time. Hopefully. He was a real mess when they broke up. So was Bobby." He pauses, an almost pained expression crossing his face, "It was not a great time in 4D."

"Yeah, I mean, they were together for two years. That's a rough breakup for anyone," Alex says, sitting down beside her. "And now, he's got a date. While, Luke..." he trails off. 

Julie hums, she can't imagine how it must feel. And it puts things into perspective though, two years is a pretty long time to be with someone. "Yeah, it sucks," she says, sitting up when Reggie slides a plate her way. "Maybe, we should just find Luke a date. You know, so it looks like he's moving on too."

"That's... actually not a bad idea," Alex concedes, he looks off thoughtfully before turning to Julie. He tilts his head as if an idea is forming in his mind and Julie gets a gut feeling that she isn't going to like the idea at all. 

* * *

"It's a good idea," Alex says. After they finished eating and talking it over, they made their way to the bar to relay the idea. Luke only glares in response from behind the bar. "Besides Julie being on fake girlfriend duty will help make sure you stay out of trouble."

"Wait, what?" Julie asks. That hadn't been something they'd discussed when coming up with this idea. "I just agreed to be his date so he didn't seem like a pathetic-"

"Hey, I'm not pathetic!"

"-ex who can't move on. Not to be a glorified babysitter," she says. She sends a quick apologetic look towards Luke. "No offense."

Reggie hums, tilting his head from side to side, "Except you kind of did."

"Yeah," Alex says, smiling sheepishly. "Look, you just have to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Like get drunk and start a fight with Bobby. Or-"

"Get drunk and beg Bobby to come back," Reggie adds. 

"Just anything that could ruin a wedding really."

"I wouldn't do those things," Luke protests, seemingly forgetting that Julie insulted him to point his glare towards them instead.

She watches them exchange glances before Reggie turns towards her and mouths, "He would." Luke reaches over the bar and flicks Reggie's forehead. 

"Why can't you two help?" she asks, trying not to laugh at the exchange.

"We will! It's just..." Alex starts, nose scrunching up slightly. "He doesn't listen to us anymore. So, the more hands on deck the better."

"It's true, I don't," Luke concedes with a nod. "And I have moved on," he adds sharply, "I'm over it."

Reggie snorts, "Yeah, clearly." When Luke glares at him, he adds, "Dude, if you were over it, you wouldn't have sent me a ten page email dissecting the conversation you had when you ran into him at a party."

Julie barks out a laugh at that before she realizes that Reggie is being completely serious. She looks at Luke to find him focusing intently on wiping down the already spotless bar. "Seriously? You did that?"

"That happened two months ago," Reggie says.

"Not to mention all the times he calls him when drunk," Alex adds, sliding his glass over for a refill. 

Julie's brows raise in surprise as she turns towards Luke. She shakes her head, "Dude, you're a mess."

Luke huffs, glancing away, and doesn't reply for a long moment. "You know what's a better idea? We just skip the wedding. I hate these things, people asking me when I'm going to get a _real_ job, as if bartending isn't a job. Or asking us about the band! And being judge-y that we're still doing it." He refills Alex's drink, and looks at all three of them. "Besides, we could use that time to rehearse and write."

"Mike's our friend! We have to go," Reggie insists, "Don't hate on weddings just because you're bitter and single!"

Julie tries not to laugh at the face Luke pulls at that. He looks towards her with an almost pout that makes her smile. 

"Besides we already said we would go," Alex points out, "We can't change our mind now."

Luke frowns, walking away to help out the customer at the end of the bar. When he comes back to them, he looks at her, "You don't have to do this, Julie."

Julie searches his expression for a moment, she doesn't really know what she's looking for and she isn't sure what he's thinking. "I know," she says, because she does, she could've shut it down before they even left the loft. "But I will. If you need me to."

* * *

When Julie tells Flynn about the fake wedding date, she laughs so hard that she almost falls out of her seat. Eventually, she calms down enough to shake her head at Julie and relentlessly teases her about how incredibly cliche it all is.

"Just be careful is all I'm saying," Flynn tells her. 

Julie fondly rolls her eyes before steering the conversation towards Flynn's newest project for her class. 

* * *

The venue is beautiful, she imagines it must've cost a fortune to book, which makes sense considering what Reggie said about the groom and his rich family on the way here. She takes in the decor and the guests surrounding the entrance hall. Reggie's flirting with a few people that walk by, and Alex sighs as he watches, "Seriously?"

"What? It's a wedding!" Reggie states, "Prime opportunity to find someone. Oh, bubbles!" He rushes over to the table where a giant bowl filled with little bottles of bubbles is placed, right in front of a sign with the couple's names sprawled across it in fancy script. Reggie grabs several bottles, "I love these things!"

Luke huffs, but asks for one and grins when he catches it. "You know, I don't trust anyone who gets married at our age," he admits. 

"Why are you hating on love?" Reggie cries out, "At a wedding of all places!"

"Yeah, why are you hating on love?" Julie teases, elbowing him gently. He laughs and rolls his eyes. 

"Oh God, Adam's here," Alex says, hands going up to his hair to smooth it out and turning towards them. "How do I look?"

Julie tilts her head as she takes him in, the light gray suit with a pink tie, and of course, the fanny pack that Alex never seems to leave the loft without. She says, "Well, you're wearing a fanny pack with a suit. But other than that, you look great." She smiles reassuringly at him, as both Luke and Reggie agree.

"Who's Adam?" she asks, watching Alex continue to fret with his hair. 

"This guy that he's had a crush on since freshman year. He was our RA and part of the GSA," Luke explains, a teasing smile as he shares a look with her. He nudges Alex, "Dude, you look fine."

"You messed up your hair," Julie says, reaching out to fix it. It's awkward and Alex has to kneel down slightly so she can reach. All the while he keeps glancing towards the area where she assumes Adam is.

"Okay," Alex says, once she gives him a thumbs up, "I'm going to talk to him." He's looking in the direction but doesn't move. 

Julie glances at Luke, raising her brow in a question. "Just give him a second," Luke whispers, watching Alex shift nervously.

Alex shakes his head, hand gripping his fanny pack. "Maybe I shouldn't talk to him. He probably doesn't even remember me."

"Dude," Reggie says, moving to stand in front of him, meeting his gaze. "You are _so_ awesome. Own it. C'mon, I'll be your wingman." And with that the two walk away, with a parting, "See you inside."

Julie smiles, watching them walk towards a group of people, she asks, "How well do you think that'll go?"

Luke hums in consideration, "Honestly? Could go either way."

Julie laughs, looping her arm through Luke's and looking around. "Is Bobby here?" she asks while they walk towards the door leading to the garden. She watches him glance around before shaking his head, telling her that he doesn't see him. "What's the deal with you and Bobby anyway?" 

He leads them to the side to wait since it's clear that they're not ready to start seating people yet.

"What do you mean?"

"Just," she shrugs, watching his expression carefully, "I mean obviously he hurt you pretty bad. But why'd you break up?"

"Um," he starts, before shrugging and shaking his head. That kicked puppy look of his that she's grown to recognize making an appearance.

"You don't know why he dumped you?" Julie asks slowly, once it clicks into place for her. 

"Nope, made no difference to me," Luke answers, shrugging again trying to come off like he doesn't care, but then adds, "I just wanted to set his car on fire."

Julie chuckles slightly, she isn't sure how serious he's being but the laugh does earn her a smile from him. "Sorry," she says, "It must suck not knowing what went wrong. Aren't you always just like wondering, what was it, was there something you could've done differently?"

"Nah," Luke says all too quickly.

Julie frowns, not believing him. "Maybe that's why you can't move on," she says, watching the way his brows draw together in confusion. "You need closure."

He frowns as he seems to consider it. Then, laughs, a stilted sound, "No. See, I don't deal with exes they're a part of the past. You burn them swiftly and give their ashes to Poseidon," he explains gesturing as he does.

"How's that working for you?" She raises an eyebrow and watches his shoulders slump slightly, like he's admitting defeat without saying the words, and she takes it as a win. "You know, you can't just not deal with it and pretend it didn't happen," she says, "You always talk about living in the now, but it seems like you can't actually do that until you get closure and let it go."

Luke is looking at her with a strange expression. He shrugs again and reaches up to mess with his tie. After a moment, he says, "I feel ridiculous in this thing."

She knows it's only a way to change the subject but she lets him have it. "I'm surprised you're wearing a suit. I half expected you to add your wallet chain or wear one of your muscle tees with it," she jokes. 

It seems to work to ease whatever tension he'd been feeling as he laughs. "Believe me I was tempted, I think Alex would've killed me if I did," he explains, and tilts his head slightly, "Or maybe Mike's mom. She always hated me."

Julie laughs as she pictures him actually showing up to the wedding in one of his usual looks. Honestly, she wouldn't have thought Luke even owned a suit before today, it seems almost wrong. But she has to admit that he looks amazing despite that and the fact that he didn't bother fix his hair just let it sit in it's usual shaggy mess.

"It's a good look for you."

Luke grins in response, clearly pleased with the compliment, and says, "You want to know something funny?" She nods, waiting expectantly as he glances away for a moment. "I was pre-law before I dropped out." 

She can't help the complete surprise at the admission. She knew vaguely about him being a dropout, she just assumed he had planned to major in something music related, or hadn't even had a major picked out yet. Never in a million years would she suspect Luke had been on the law school path.

"You're joking, right?" 

"Nope, you can ask the guys," Luke says, he seems serious enough and a little hurt that she doesn't believe him. "I was planning to be a lawyer. Suits could've been my daily life at one point."

"I..." Julie starts, shaking her head slightly as she tries to wrap her mind around it. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I just... I can't picture it. It feels wrong for you to do anything _not_ related to music."

Luke bursts out in laughter, he sounds delighted and it makes Julie brim with pride at causing it. "I know!" he agrees, bright grin on his face, "I never even wanted to be a lawyer. But my, uh," he cuts himself off, grin dimming for a quick moment, before he continues again, bright and energetic like it didn't even happen. She files that away in the back of her mind. "Music was always _it_ for me, you know? But I thought I needed that stable path, like I _had_ to do that while trying to make music on the side. And then, one day, after we formed the band, I realized this can't be a backup. Not for me. I don't want it to be. So, I just dropped out."

"And became a bartender," she points out, taking in all this new information about Luke. He rolls his eyes, but it's clear that he isn't actually annoyed. 

"Yeah, I became a bartender," he concedes, laughing slightly. When he continues, his smile is softer, "But I know I would've been miserable if I went through with it. Or ever gave up on music. Because that's just... It's not me."

Julie finds herself smiling softly. "I'm glad that it's not you," she says, watching the surprise flicker across his expression. "I think I would've hated lawyer Luke. I like this version of you."

She watches his expression change into something she just can't quite name. He looks down at their feet for a moment, before meeting her gaze again with a smile, he nods, "Lawyer Luke would've sucked. That miserable bastard."

And Julie gives up on trying to figure out what that expression meant, instead she laughs and let's him lead her towards their seats.

As they wait for the ceremony to start, they talk about the songs they've been working on and Luke tells her stories about all the people that he knows here. Including, the groom's mom that supposedly hates him. At one point, she realizes Reggie has basically taken over as the usher, or maybe it's his weird flirting technique. It's hard to tell when he starts leading an older woman towards her seat. 

"Alex is so clearly trying to get out of that conversation," Luke whispers to her, nodding towards him, she follows his gaze to find a clearly uncomfortable Alex talking to what seems to be a group of older businessmen types. 

"Oh, Alex," she says, and can't but laugh at the obvious way he tries to edge away before being pulled back into a conversation. He glances their way with an expression that screams help. "He-" 

"Oh, God," Luke cuts her off. She looks at him. "That's him. Bobby's over there." He turns to look back behind him, she follows his gaze but she can't see anything because Luke abruptly stands, blocking her view. "Shit," he whispers, "He's coming over here. I need to go," he adds, looking around for an exit.

Julie rolls her eyes. "Luke, sit down," she says sharply, grabbing his hand, he looks towards her in surprise and practically falls back into his seat. "Just relax, it'll be fine." She looks down at the connected hands, using that to move his arm up and around her shoulders. "Trust me. Which one is he?"

Luke stares at her shoulder where his hand is resting, she doesn't let go of his hand. He nods shakily, "Okay. And uh, sunglasses and a patterned shirt."

She looks past Luke to see a guy fitting that description walking towards them. She frowns, because there's something familiar about the guy. She's about to say as much when he stops at the end of their row.

"Luke, hey," he says, awfully casual, "Reggie said you'd be around here."

Luke hesitates for a moment before turning towards him. "Hey, man," he says, cool and friendly like he always is around people, "Didn't know you'd be here."

"Right," Bobby says, giving him a look that shows he knows that's a lie. "It's been awhile."

Luke only nods and she can feel the way he stiffens. Julie squeezes his fingers gently in reassurance, he glances at her and gives a quick barely there smile. "Uh, this is Julie," he says, switching gears quickly, "Julie, this is Bobby."

"The new girl," Bobby says, grinning at her. She feels a rush of annoyance at the way he calls her that. "I hear you're the new lead singer of the band."

"That's right, Billy," she says, smiling politely as she holds out a hand.

"Bobby," he corrects, "Have we met before? I feel like we've met before."

"No, I don't think so?" 

Bobby frowns, "Are you sure? I swear-"

Luke scoffs, glaring at Bobby, and sharply says, "Seriously, man? You're hitting on her right in front of me?"

Julie freezes at that, turning towards Bobby with a sharp look, she hadn't thought that's what he was doing. He steps back slightly, hands raised in surrender, "Hey, chill. It's not like that, I really do think we've met." He looks at her again, and snaps his finger before pointing, "Carrie's friend!"

Again, Julie feels frozen as she blinks at that, she frowns, hand dropping away from Luke's. "How do you know Carrie?" she asks slowly. 

"She's my cousin." 

It takes a moment to settle in before she remembers back when she and Flynn were still friends with Carrie. There was a few times when her cousin would hang around. "Oh! Yeah, yeah. I remember now," she says, as it starts coming back to her.

"Huh, what a small world," Bobby says, "It's been years, but I knew I recognized you."

Luke lets out an awkward chuckle, as he looks between them, "What is happening?"

Someone calls out Bobby's name. And he quickly, reaches out towards Luke before stopping himself, and says, "I gotta get to my seat." He doesn't wait for a reply before leaving.

Not even a few seconds later, Alex shows up dropping into the seat next to Luke, gesturing in the direction Bobby left. "So, that... Seemed interesting, what happened?"

"Julie knows Bobby," Luke says, frowning as he glances towards her, like it's some kind of betrayal. 

"How was I supposed to know?" 

Alex blinks a few times in surprise as he seems to process this new information. "Wait. How do you know Bobby?"

Julie sighs. "I used to be friends with his cousin," she explains, "I haven't spoken to either of them since high school."

"Huh," Alex simply replies, nodding. "Small world."

Luke doesn't say anything, but it seems like he wants to. Instead, he turns to Alex and asks about how talking to Adam went. His arm never leaving Julie's shoulder even though they're not in Bobby's view, she doesn't mention it.

* * *

The wedding ceremony is long and beautiful. She tears up during the vows while Reggie full on sobs next to her. All in all, it's nice. And so is the reception. After the couple does their first dance and they do speeches. The food gets served and everyone is pretty much free to do what they want. The dance floor varies in crowdedness through each song and there's a long line forming for the photo booth.

Reggie insists they _need_ to take pictures in the photo booth together, so they wait. And it's an incredibly tight fit with all of them in there. Two of the pictures come out blurry because Alex nearly falls out of the booth. But it's fun and she almost forgets about the fact that she's on Luke watch and pretending to be his girlfriend.

She comes back to the table, sitting down beside Luke, after dancing with Alex. She watches Alex finally get the nerve to go towards Adam at the bar and is about to tell Luke. When he reaches out to move one of her curls that undoubtedly came loose while she was on the dancefloor, he's smiling softly. 

She holds her breath as he does it. And hates the disappointment she feels when she spots Bobby near the edge of the dancefloor, looking towards them before turning away to continue his conversation with Reggie. She forces a smile, leaning away abruptly, wondering if the look of hurt on Luke's face is just her imagination. 

"Oh, look, Alex is talking to Adam," she points out, watching Alex at the bar, it seems to be going well until the Best Man joins the conversation. More accurately hijacks it as he gains Adam's attention. 

"Or not," Luke mutters, shaking his head slightly. They watch as Alex stands there awkwardly, clearly about to leave before Adam leaves first, leaving the Best Man to turn towards Alex and start talking. "Wonder what that's about."

She hums in agreement as they continue to watch. And then, Alex's heading towards them with a sad look on his face. He plops into the seat across from them.

"Hey, so it's official, I'm gonna die alone!" he says, voice all false cheerfulness and a smile that's more of a grimace.

"No, you're not," Julie replies. 

"Yeah, you always said one day Reg and I would be the cause of your death," Luke adds unhelpfully, "That we'd probably die together with our luck."

Alex shoots him an annoyed look. "I stand by that," he retorts, "But that's not what I meant and you know it."

"It looked like things were going well with Adam, what happened?" Julie asks, cutting off whatever remark Luke was going to make that would've inevitably gotten them off track.

Alex sighs, hand running through his hair as he glances towards the bar, and says, "It was. But then Mike's best man started flirting with him. And I can't compete with that. The best man is like the celebrity of the wedding!" 

"Alex, come on," Luke says, "Don't let that jerk intimidate you. You're a great drummer and a great guy, he's got nothing on you!"

"But-"

"No," he says sternly. "You are one of the best guys I know."

Alex leans back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the table. He looks amused but not entirely convinced.

"Luke's right," Julie says, leaning forward, "You're really great. You just need to show him that."

"Yeah, stop feeling sorry for yourself, and go out there and get your man," Luke says, with an encouraging nod and smile.

Alex sighs, but she can see the quirk of his lips, the way he's trying not to smile. "Okay, okay. I'll go, uh," he pauses, sighing. "I'll ask him to dance."

"Yes! You've got this," Luke says excitedly, leaning over to give him a pat on the back. Alex takes a deep breath and nods, clearly psyching himself up a bit before he stands up to leave. 

"Good luck," Julie calls out after him. 

Luke leans towards her. "Our boy is growing up so fast," he jokes, one hand over his heart and the other reaching up to wipe his invisible tears.

"He sure is," she laughs, knocking her shoulder against his, turning to find Alex in the crowd. "Oh, look he's actually doing it," she says, watching Alex slowly approaching Adam's table but stops, turning and walking away before hesitating and turning back. "Or maybe not."

Luke lets out a low whistle, shaking his head. "He's getting too into his head," he says with a sigh and getting out of his seat. "This might take awhile. I'm gonna get a drink, want anything?"

"No, I'm okay," she answers, watching him walk towards the bar before returning to watch Alex again.

When Luke returns to the table he places a drink in front of her and a plate of desserts that he snagged from the snack table. She informs him that Alex did manage to ask Adam to dance and they did for a few moments. Of course, that's when Reggie started a dance battle with some kid. Luke turns to watch the dance battle still happening, laughs as he cracks jokes about the kid wiping the floor with Reggie.

* * *

Sometime after the cake and while the party is still going strong, Julie and Reggie decide to raid the snack table. He sighs as he stuffs some candy into his jacket pockets when her purse can't fit anymore, and says, "We should've grabbed Alex's fanny pack."

"Oh my God, why didn't we think about that sooner?" 

"Uh, guys," Alex says, as if summoned by the mention of his name. She turns towards him and notices the worried look on his face. "We have a problem."

"What's wrong?"

Alex nods towards something, it takes a moment of scanning but then she spots Luke and realizes what might be the problem. Bobby and him are sitting together at an empty table, talking and laughing.

"Oh, no," Reggie says, abandoning the chocolate covered pretzel sticks he was grabbing. He tilts his head and adds, "Well. Maybe it won't be so bad?"

Julie can hear the hopefulness in his tone, but when she sees Alex's almost grim expression, she knows this might be bad. Still she asks, "I mean, they're just talking? It should be fine, right?"

Alex looks at her before glancing towards the table, he sighs. "Okay. Here's the thing: it always starts off fine. They can even be civil at first," he starts, turning to her, twisting the ring on his finger as he talks. "But then... One of them will say something that the other takes the wrong way. Which then causes them to get defensive and..." He trails off, grimacing slightly, "The point is: it always spirals into a mess."

"Oh," Julie says, wincing slightly. This is the most she's heard about their dynamic, other than the end being messy for all parties involved.

"Yeah. Look, they're both great guys," Reggie adds, "I love them. But ever since their breakup, they tend to, uh, bring the worst out of each other. They are certainly _not_ ready to be friends again. Especially not Luke."

Julie nods as she takes it all in. "Right. So, I'll just go over there and interrupt, yeah?" she asks, looking around Alex and freezes as she notices that Luke and Bobby aren't at the table anymore, but walking out of the reception hall. "Uh, problem, they're leaving."

Alex and Reggie immediately turn around to see for themselves.

"Quick, follow them!" Reggie announces, nudging Alex and her into motion as they move to catch up to them. They follow them out of the reception hall, looking around for any sign of them, and Reggie starts leading them towards where he says he saw them disappear.

"Are you sure this is the way they went?" Alex asks. 

"Yeah, I swear they went this way," Reggie says, walking further down the hall.

Suddenly, she hears a familiar voice up ahead and footsteps that sound like they're heading this way. Her eyes widen as she shares a panicked look with Alex. While Reggie looks around and makes a beeline for the janitor closet that they just passed, he opens the door, and hisses, "Hurry, get in!"

“Seriously?” Alex asks, but is already being pulled towards the door, Reggie practically shoves him inside. She quickly follows.

Once all three of them are inside, Reggie shuts the door and immediately presses his ear against it. A frown of concentration forming on his face as he seems to be listening for the coast to be clear. Julie sighs and shares a look with Alex, who managed to find the light switch, he shakes his head, clearly not even bothering to deal with it.

Reggie’s eyes widen, turning towards them, and whispers, "It's Luke and Bobby. I can hear them talking."

And Julie likes to think she’s better than spying on her friends but maybe the guys are rubbing off on her, and okay, she’s just really curious. “Move over,” she whispers as she moves towards the door, Reggie automatically makes space for her.

“I don’t think we should be listening,” Alex whispers. She and Reggie shush him.

Luke and Bobby are close enough that their voices carry almost clearly through the door. And Alex seems to quickly give up his own moral high ground as he gestures for them to make space so he can listen. They rearrange themselves so that all three of them can listen. When she's able to press her ear against the door again, she hears Bobby mid-sentence.

“-nice seeing you and the guys again,” Bobby says, “And hey, Julie seems great.”

Julie stills as she waits for Luke’s response, feeling nervous about what he might say.

"Yeah, Julie is the best," Luke answers, she thinks she hears a smile in his voice but she can't be sure. She does bite the inside of her cheek to stop a smile of her own though. 

"Good," Bobby says, he clears his throat, "Uh, look, I know things have been... Well, not great between us. But I miss you guys. I... want to be friends again. And I get you probably need more time. I mean, I do listen to my voicemails, man."

"What? I don't leave you voicemails," Luke scoffs, and she hears a muffled huff. There's a pause, then Luke says, "Actually, uh. I wanted to ask something." There's a moment of silence before he continues, "Why did you break up with me?"

She practically holds her breathe as she leans against the door more, and she can practically feel both Reggie and Alex go tense.

After a long beat of silence, she hears him say, "Seriously, Luke? You want to get into this now?"

And she swears he sounds exhausted. 

"Yeah, why not?" 

She feels worriedness build up in the pit of her stomach, along with guilt for listening in on this conversation that should be only between Luke and Bobby.

"We shouldn't listen," Alex mumbles, and she agrees. Yet neither of them move. 

"Dude, honestly?" Another pause. "Um. I didn't even realize you still cared about me anymore until after we broke up. And even then, I thought you cared more about the fact that I quit the band."

She swallows hard, and hears a sharp intake of breath that she thinks might've been Reggie.

"You know that's not true!" Luke argues.

"No, I don't! You were _pissed_ when I decided to quit. You've never even considered how hard that was-"

Reggie moves away from the door slightly, accidentally knocking into something on the shelf beside him causing a loud noise. Julie attempts to pull Reggie closer to steady him so he won't make more noise, even though it's too late. And of course, that's when the door opens. All of them stumble and fall onto the floor. Alex curses when she and Reggie practically land on him, she looks up to see Luke staring down at them. 

"Hey," she greets. At the same time Reggie unhelpfully says, "We weren't listening!"

"Seriously, guys?" Luke asks, clearly upset. "So much for boundaries, huh?" he asks, specifically looking at her.

Julie smiles weakly, and says, "Sorry?"

Luke huffs and shakes his head, looking them over before he walks away without another word.

"Clearly some things don't change," Bobby says, laughing awkwardly but he looks uncomfortable. He helps them up, leaving with a weak farewell. They watch his retreating back as they're left alone in the hallway.

"I told you we shouldn't have listened," Alex points out, and Julie rolls her eyes at that, "Nobody ever listens to me."

"Please, you wanted to hear too," Reggie says, shoving him slightly, before frowning in the direction that Luke disappeared in. 

* * *

When they finally make their way back to the reception hall, they don't see Luke anywhere. Julie figures that's the point, he's probably hiding somewhere and will show up when he's ready to leave. Until then, the three of them sit miserably at their table, surrounded by the ongoing celebration and the bubbles that Reggie's blowing.

Reggie sighs sadly, watching a bubble drift away, "I thought the bubbles would cheer me up. But nothing."

"You guys look pathetic."

She turns around abruptly to see Luke standing behind her, he doesn't look mad at them anymore, but he doesn't look happy either. He looks tired and he gives a barely there smile as he sits in one of the empty seats that isn't claimed by any of their feet. And before he even sits, the apologies are spilling out of her mouth and from Alex and Reggie as well.

Luke's gaze darts around at each of them as they talk over each other in a jumbled mess of words. "It's fine," he says, once he's able to get a word in. "Well, it's not. But I do forgive you guys."

"Oh, thank God!" Reggie exclaims, slumping in relief and taking the words right out of her mouth. "I was worried you'd still be mad at us."

"No, Reg, I'm not mad."

"Where'd you disappear off to?" Alex asks.

Luke sighs, grabbing the stray wrapper on the table twisting it between his fingers. "I was talking to Bobby," he admits, not looking at any of them. 

Julie stills, glancing briefly to see Alex and Reggie with looks of varying concern, and she doesn't know what to think. She does figure it makes sense with how worn-out and tired he looks, she imagines it must've been a hard talk. Nobody speaks for a moment. 

"You okay?" she asks finally. 

He looks at her, then down at his hands. "Actually, yeah," he says, nodding as he speaks, "I think I'm good." He offers a quick, barely there smile, and adds, "You were right, Julie. I needed closure."

Julie takes that in, and the way he's looking at her can only be described as soft, she smiles gently back. She can't explain why, but the moment _feels_ significant in some way.

And whatever moment, however significant or insignificant, is shattered by Reggie asking, "So, does this mean that we can be friends with Bobby again?"

Julie tears her gaze away from Luke, exhaling slightly as she turns towards Reggie, he looks genuinely curious. And she sneaks a glance towards Luke, he looks bemused by the question. 

"Nothing was stopping you from being his friend, you dork," he says with an amused huff. 

"You're kidding, right?" Alex says incredulously, "Every time you realized we still talk to Bobby, you act like we're traitors! That's why we had to start lying about where we were. And even then, we barely see him, because of your," he gestures vaguely, "Weirdness."

"Dude," Reggie says, eyes wide.

Julie covers her mouth to stifle a laugh. 

Luke frowns as his gaze darts between them, he heaves a sigh. "Whatever," he says, rolling his eyes, "Alright, I promise I'll stop being such a jerk about it."

"Good," Reggie says, with a punch to Luke's shoulder. Alex smiles at him.

Luke laughs, smiling fondly at them, before standing up. He squeezes both of their shoulders as he walks around the table. Then, stops and looks at Julie, and says, "C'mon, Jules."

"What?" she asks, surprised and a little confused. 

"Just," he nods towards the dance floor, "Come on, dance with me."

Julie glances at him, then towards the dancefloor, and listens to the slow song playing over the speakers. He looks at her expectantly and she gets up, follows him to the dancefloor that's filling up with pairs slow-dancing.

He stops near the edge of the floor, she stands in front of him. She thinks that her heart may beat into her throat as they just stand there, she's waiting for him to make the first move. And he does, unexpectedly, he starts doing the chicken dance. 

Julie immediately bursts into laughter. 

She can't help it, as she watches him slowly doing the chicken dance to Phil Collins singing a romantic tune, and doing it with such a serious expression. 

"C'mon, Julie," he says, "Don't leave me hanging!"

"You're an idiot," she says, trying not to smile and failing.

Luke's grin doesn't dim as he offers an inviting nod, never stopping his dance.

And she rolls her eyes at his antics, but she joins him. His expression practically beaming when she does. 

It doesn't take long for Reggie to join them and then Alex. The four of them laughing together as they do the chicken dance, adding their own spins on it as the song goes on. She thinks back to that time, only three weeks ago now, when a whole restaurant stared at them. And she's positive that they're getting weird looks again. 

But she doesn't care because she's having fun and she thinks that she'd like to stay in this moment forever.

* * *

They end their night on the couch together. Alex sprawled out on the chaise part of their sectional, while the rest of them are spread out on the rest of the couch. All the guys ties and jackets thrown carelessly onto the coffee table. Along with all the snacks that they'd stuffed into her purse. And Luke keeps complaining about Reggie taking too long to decide on what to watch. 

"You said you didn't care! You forfeited your input!" Reggie tells him, leaning away so that Luke can't try to take the remote away. He pauses glancing at Alex, and says, "Hey, sorry about the whole Adam thing."

Julie leans forward to look over at Alex, watches the way he frowns for a moment as if he'd forgotten about that part of the night too. 

"Eh, doesn't matter," Alex says, shrugging, but he looks upset. "I barely even know him."

 _"Still._ "

"Alex, you'll find a really great guy one of these days," she offers reassuringly.

"Yeah, exactly, don't sweat it," Luke adds.

Julie watches Alex finally smile and look their way. 

"And even if you don't," Reggie says, "You'll always have us." 

It's sweet. And for a moment, Julie doesn't even realize she's included in that, until Reggie continues, "Like, seriously, the four of us will be old and rocking out in the retirement home together. I'm going to make sure of it."

Julie laughs, bright and happy, it's a nice thought. Although she can't help but add, "We'll be Julie and the Old Timers."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mainly referenced/inspired by the new girl episode: 1.03: the Wedding
> 
> With some minor references (and a few quotes) from various other episodes that I'll happily go into detail of, if there's interest. But if you're a New Girl fan, I'm sure you can catch most of them.
> 
> Edit: I made a [moodboard](https://dearhappyx.tumblr.com/post/635268430309851136/a-really-great-deal-on-craigslist-julie-is) for this fic if anyone wants to check it out


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